A PROJECT BY PINAR BALAT AND IGOR SLADOLJEV

How can spatial interventions contribute to more justice in the city?

In 2021, Stimuleringsfonds NL launched a series of open calls under the name Voucherregeling Ruimtelijk Ontwerp with the ambition to stimulate the use of spatial design and research in tackling the social and ecological challenges that Netherlands currently faces. Our team is among those selected to carry out their projects, and we focus on the topic of spatial justice as a prerequisite for the vitality of future urban environments. We, as urbanists, believe that we should be working towards a professional practice (and a political system) in which justice is the principal consideration and evaluation criterion in urban policy making, instead of growth or economic profit.

In this project, we set out to create a more just living environment in a socio-economically vulnerable social housing area of Vrederust in The Hague. Urbanist-film maker Igor Sladoljev and I are working together with Haag Wonen -the housing corporation that owns most of the dwellings and collective space in the area. We intend to create a more just neighbourhood by setting up a living-lab of spatial interventions in public space, which are chosen through a transparent co-creation process with the residents. We use digital tools and film techniques to document and reflect on the process, to visualise the selected interventions, and to effectively communicate the vision for the living-lab to the municipality and potential financial supporters. The movie we make during this phase is meant to kickstart the next one where we, together with Haag Wonen, hope to implement the interventions and witness the change it brings to the area.

In her book ‘The Just City’ S. Fainstein defines the building blocks of spatial justice as equity, diversity, and democracy. Equity refers to fair access to urban resources such as housing, transport, facilities, and public space. Diversity emphasizes the importance of respecting and recognising all groups in the society, giving space to their values and needs. Finally, democracy refers to all groups having the possibility to take part in the making of the urban built environment, thorough honest co-creation processes. Just city could be described as urban space where all groups in the society can exist, live, and thrive together. Based on the existing theoretical framework of spatial justice, we look for ways in which spatial designers can contribute to a more just city. What kind of spatial solutions bring justice to the residents of the neighbourhood we are focusing on? How should we adjust our design process so that the methodology itself contributes to generating more justice? In which ways can we use the digital representation and communication tools for supporting a just process and a just outcome?

Read more on this project here.

Read more about Voucherregeling Ruimtelijk Ontwerp here. (Available only in Dutch)